Tidy My Mac
Permissions · Wi-Fi Security
Is my Wi-Fi secure? Check your Mac's network
Wi-Fi Security checks the encryption of the Wi-Fi network your Mac is connected to and tells you plainly whether it is weak or good: an open network, WEP or the original WPA is weak; WPA2, WPA3 and Enterprise are good. It also shows whether your Mac is using encrypted DNS.
macOS 26 Tahoe or later · No credit card · Everything runs on your Mac
Why the network's encryption matters
Wi-Fi encryption protects everything between your Mac and the router from anyone within range. On an open network, the kind in many cafés, hotels and airports, nothing is encrypted at that level, so other people nearby can see which sites and services you connect to. Most websites and apps add their own encryption with HTTPS, but not every connection does, and the names of the sites you look up are often still visible.
On a network with old encryption the protection is there in name only, because it can be broken with freely available tools.
WEP vs WPA vs WPA2 vs WPA3
| Security | Rating | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| None (open network) | Weak | No encryption at all between your Mac and the router. |
| WEP | Weak | The original Wi-Fi encryption. Its flaws have been public for many years, and it can be cracked by anyone nearby. |
| WPA Personal | Weak | The stopgap that replaced WEP. It is also outdated and shouldn't be relied on. |
| WPA2 Personal | Good | The long-standing standard. Safe with a long, unguessable password. |
| WPA3 Personal | Good | The current standard. It resists password-guessing attacks better than WPA2. |
| Enterprise | Good | Used by companies and universities: each person signs in with their own account instead of sharing one password. |
If your own router shows as weak, change its security setting to WPA2 or WPA3 in the router's settings page or app. If it is a public network you don't control, use it for nothing sensitive.
How to check Wi-Fi security on a Mac
macOS shows it if you know where to look: hold Option and click the Wi-Fi icon in the menu bar, and the connected network's details include its Security. In Terminal, system_profiler SPAirPortDataType prints the same information.
Tidy My Mac reads that same report and puts the answer on the Wi-Fi Security page: the network, its security type, and a Weak or Good label. A security type macOS reports in a form Tidy My Mac doesn't recognise is labelled Unknown rather than guessed. If your Mac isn't on Wi-Fi, it says so. macOS hides the network's name from apps that don't have Location access, so the name may show as hidden; the security check works either way.
Encrypted DNS
Every time you open a site, your Mac looks up its name with DNS, and ordinary DNS lookups travel unencrypted, even on a secure network. Encrypted DNS, such as DNS over HTTPS, hides those lookups from the network you're on. The Wi-Fi Security page shows whether your Mac's DNS settings use it, so you know whether the sites you look up are visible to the network.
Beyond the network
A secure Wi-Fi network protects the link to your router, not what happens after it. Web Protection blocks phishing, scam and malware sites in every browser and app, the Firewall shows which apps connect out and lets you block them, and Security Settings checks that macOS's own firewall and protections are on.
Questions about Wi-Fi Security
Check its security type. WPA2 or WPA3 is secure with a strong password; an open network, WEP or the original WPA is not. Option-click the Wi-Fi icon in the menu bar to see it, or open Wi-Fi Security in Tidy My Mac, which labels it Weak or Good.
Sites and apps that use HTTPS stay encrypted on any network, so everyday browsing is reasonably safe. But an open network gives you no protection of its own, and anyone nearby can see which services you connect to. Avoid anything sensitive, and prefer networks that ask for a password.
WPA3 if all your devices support it. Many routers offer a mixed WPA2/WPA3 mode for older devices, which is a sensible choice. Either way, use a long password.
No. It checks the Wi-Fi network your Mac is connected to now. Press Refresh after you join another one to check it.
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